what's working for us Wednesday

 

We are working on some habit building over here.  These punch cards that they get to whole punch themselves are working for us right now.  

What is something that is working in your home right now?  

Kelly

what if . . . rest?

 I was just feeling tired in the middle of the day and decided to just relax for a few minutes and take care of myself.  I am in no way an infectious disease expert but I found myself wondering if perhaps feeling tired just might possibly (I know people who have studied this far more than I have been saying things like this for a very long time, so I am speaking a bit tongue in cheek) . . . if feeling tired just might possibly be a signal that my body needs rest?  

It seems that viral load is a pretty big contributing factor to "catching" Covid-19.  What if feeling tired might mean that I was unknowingly exposed to some corona virus bugs and my body is working on fighting those off?  

Maybe not.  Maybe so.  

I think what I am working on remembering is that I am the one who most often puts expectations on myself.  What if I gave myself permission to listen to my body and rest when it feels tired?  

What are your thoughts on rest these days?  

I'd love to hear. 

Kelly

morning

July 6, 2020

and the results

I'd say it worked well enough.  ☺

experiement . . .

Does string cheese melt well?  

I have no idea.  

When food in the fridge isn't getting eaten as is it's time to get creative.  Waste not want not.  

I kind of like the striped pizza look.  We'll see what happens as it cooks.  :) 

What creativity have you exercised in the kitchen lately?

Kelly

grateful for this week . . .

big kids who have fun ideas and can execute much more of them themselves

birthday cake dreaming for my sweet almost 6 year old

cake idea from this book

sweet friends

lip licking good hot cocoa on an unexpectedly snowy afternoon

hand me down dresses that are so much fun to wear, green lantern symbols drawn on by her brother and that smile

aunts who quilt and give generously and a daughter who likes to play pretend

that homeschooling can happen anywhere and that our car dealership service area has a fish pond

also, that my kids are enamored with and curious about nature wherever they may find it

another aunt who gave us a chick-fil-a gift card which led to a fun treat of breakfast out after taking the car into the shop

the "after a library trip quiet" that comes as they pour through the new offerings

a fixed and ready to go car, fun kids to spend my days with and that we were all still smiling at this point in a long day!  

Nana's who host St. Patrick's Day parties and fun cousins building leprechaun traps!

a visit from Granddad!  

that all of our grandparents love, share and promote reading

really good friends and the unexpected discovery of a whole patch of blooming crocus in our neighborhood!!!!!  

that I get to homeschool . . . I am very grateful for this life . . . 

bracelets from Kenya

braids

the margin in a day to try hairstyles before hiking

the young woman she is growing up to be 

(and her fashion sense!)  

my strong boy

handsome husband and that my kids love their grandparents

pretty girl

good friends

her enthusiasm and all her words

stop me in my tracks views during errands

spring meals coming up

their insatiable appetites for learning and trying new things

What are you thankful for this week?

math game!

One of my kids LOVES math and the other purports not to like it at all.  I have been trying this year to make it as engaging as possible.  

One thing we are really working on is speed/knowing our math facts in an automatic way so that as we are doing more complicated equations, the basics feel very fluent.  

I am immensely grateful for the wonderful friends that I get to walk this journey of home educating with and one of those friends is Evelyn.  God orchestrated our meeting in the school office on the one day a week our kids attend a supplemental program.  On that blustery morning a friendship was kindled that I couldn't be more grateful for!  Once upon a time I jotted down a note from either a conversation or perhaps one of her instagram posts or stories to hide the answers to math problems around the room.  

I had recently gotten out my collection of numbers picked up at flea markets, etc. over the years and I would set out a number and they would build it with popsicle stick tally marks.  

I grabbed the numbers again and with their help we scattered them all around the room.  

I held up flashcards (again from my long collected stash of vintage stuff!  Using vintage flashcards just makes me happy!)  and they raced around to locate the answer and place it in their own piles.  

When we had used all of the numbers the kids wanted to work together on the subtraction problems.  They sorted all of the numerals into piles for quick grabbing.  They piled the answers (or equivalents when the numeral they needed wasn't available which added in even more math practice, matching equations to equations!) on the tray until they were out.  

Finally they once again used the popsicle sticks to build the answers to the addition and subtraction problems mixed with tally marks!  

There was much hilarity and I think everyone had a great time with math that day as well as building a lot of fluency!  This was all super simple - sometimes the simplest things are the most fun!  I hope you and your kids have a great time with this if you decide to try it.  

Kelly

Snow and Sheep

Almost a year ago Adrian and I began planning and dreaming about a trip to Europe this spring.  My father-in-law is on sabbatical over here and they invited us to visit as well as having some other invitations from friends and family so here we are!  

We flew out of Denver on Friday afternoon, March 16th after my sweet dad drove us to the airport.  Packing for this trip has been an exercise in getting closer to our ideal.  

Last time we were in Florence we had to pay a good amount of money to put bags into the "bag hold" at the train station and because the cost was so high we were still hauling quite a bit on our backs, trying to "tuck" bags that were too big for "tucking" under the table at the restaurant, etc.  We knew that we would eventually like to travel with only one backpack per person to allow for more comfort/flexibility in travel in a lot of ways.  

Our first time to really do this was a trip to San Francisco mid-February.  One backpack per person . . . but that trip was only about 36 hours.  This trip is 32 days!  I am pretty pleased about making it into only five backpacks this time!  

We flew to London's Heathrow and I asked Adrian if we couldn't take a steamer next time.  The flight really was fine but it is just so hard to try to sleep on a plane and you know you are supposed to be sleeping and getting hit with jet lag.  

When we arrived we ate lunch and hired a car.  We drove to Hampton Court Palace which once belonged to Henry VIII among other notable people where we met Adrian's Aunt Helen and cousin Leo.  It was so wonderful to see them again and it was very interesting to tour the palace.  

of course you sit on the floor of a centuries old palace to check your maps - I was impressed with the displays and how well done everything was.  I would recommend it if you're in the area.  

We enjoyed tea before heading to Swindon, England for the night.  

We ended the day at a restaurant that we really like called Nando's.  Chicken, veggies, French fries . . . excuse me, chips . . . etc.  It is our second time to have gone there on a first day in England.  It is a nice little tradition and it feels comfortable to know what you are getting there.  

We stayed the night at a Double Tree in Swindon that was really clean and nice.  Unfortunately Cora, Adrian and I were all up for nearly three hours in the middle of the night but surely jet lag will get better!  

We got up this morning and had a very nice breakfast complete with baked beans, sausages, fried tomatoes and white grapefruit.  Then we drove from Swindon to Wales in the snow and crossed over this magnificent bridge!  

During the afternoon we trudged through the snow a mile and a half or so to the grocery store.  It was a really fun walk.  I enjoyed seeing the signs in both Welsh and English for each aisle at the grocery.  

As we walked along we passed a field of grazing sheep.  

I can tell I didn't sleep all that well last night.  Jet lag is hard.  

Not an awesome photo but I wanted to document and remember that Cora and David really enjoyed working in their travel journals on the drive.  Thank you for the stickers Aunt Helen!  

to be continued . . . 

Kelly